Awakening the Darkness
by FlashKenshin77
Summary: An amnesiac Jedi awakens on the forest moon of Endor months after the Empire's defeat. As he tries to recover his past and learn of the new society he was thrust into, he learns of an evil plot to overthrow the emerging New Republic. Can he save the galaxy from its descent to darkness or will his past come back to haunt him?
1. Chapter 1

A faint beep echoed throughout the room as a carbonite slab lying against the cold, metal floor suddenly, but slowly, started to melt. In its place lay a human figure coming out of a deep sleep, his eyes shifting restlessly underneath his eyelids. He leaned forward, groaning as muscles long asleep fired awake and slowly opened his eyes. He saw nothing but black.

"Where am I?" He wondered, his mind sluggishly coming back together.

His ears picked up no noise other than his breathing, the room eerily quiet. His eyes took a few moments to adjust to the darkness. He blinked, hoping to make out anything; the blackness revealed nothing. He hesitantly rose to his feet, his leg muscles screaming in pain. He staggered forward and fell face first onto the metal floor with a resounding thud. He laid there, stunned until he regained control of his convulsing body. He struggled to pick himself up and forced himself into a meditative position. He took a few deep breaths and called on the Force like he was taught as a youngling. He felt it's healing energy seep through his body, soothing the pain and reinvigorating his atrophied muscles.

Several moments later, feeling in control of his body once more, he rose onto shaky legs, almost falling forward again but caught himself. He tried to remember where he was, but found that he couldn't remember anything; he had no idea who he was. All he could recall was having a lightsaber; he immediately reached for it, but failed to find it. Panic arose as he flailed blindly in the dark, searching for it. He almost heard it calling for him, some small quiet voice calling through the darkness.

He staggered his way over to what he made out to be a table and searched blindly before grabbing a familiar cylindrical object. He sighed and held it away from himself before flipping the power switch. An explosion of energy erupted from the emitter, thankfully away from him. He squinted from the now bright forest green light that colored the blade.

He looked around the room, finally having a source of light. The room seemed very old, its moldy walls cracked and decaying with a putrid odor of decay. It was filled with what looked like computers from ground to the ceiling, the ancient behemoths long powered down. The room had no windows and only two exits; what looked like an elevator and a door simply labeled 'stairs'.

He made his way to investigate the computers, hoping to find some information, his legs kicking up dust. As he made his way to the closest computer, he tripped over what he could only describe as a dull, rusty brown metallic blob. He picked himself off the ground once again, dusting himself off before bending down, holding his lightsaber close so he could make out what he tripped on.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up as something clicked into place in his brain; he was looking at the rusted remains of a B1 battle droid, the soldiers of the Confederacy. He jumped up and held his lightsaber in an instinctive position, waiting for something to attack him. When nothing did, he looked around, noticing several other inactive B1s scattered about the room hunched against the massive computers.

I _must be in a Confederate base…but how? …And why?_ He decided to leave, heading towards the elevator. He pushed the button, waiting for it to light up. It didn't and after several minutes, shrugged and headed towards the stairs. _Guess I gotta do this the hard way._

[….]

After several flights of stairs, he finally made it to the top and pushed against the heavy door. It creaked with age and lack of use but grudgingly opened, revealing a lush forest. He looked around, feeling the breeze blow against his long hair, the fresh air doing wonders for his morale. He stood there for a few moments, just taking deep breaths. He held a hand over his eyes, blocking the sun as he gazed out and tried to make sense of where he was. All he could see were the remains of what looked like ruins, metal doors and boxes strewn about. He could just make out a landing pad in the distance, its blinking indicator lights lazily going.

He saw a ship sitting on its struts, steam billowing from the openings. The ship was rather large, taking up the entire landing pad. It seemed to be dotted with a few turbolasers, the turrets pointing towards the sky. The cockpit was facing away from him and he could make out the engine ports. The cargo bay seemed to be opened; he could faintly see two people going back and forth carrying boxes inside.

He decided that that was his best chance of getting information so he started his trek through the forest and headed towards the ship.

[…]

_Finally_. He wiped the sweat from his brow. He hadn't met anything along the way, but had an eerie feeling that he was being watched. He stealthily made his way to the strut and hid behind it. He glanced around the ship and saw that many parts were rusted; he was pretty sure that one of the turbolasers was just for show. Steam constantly bellowed from the cargo bay and he could hear the ship itself creak and moan. He could make out the name of the ship however, the _Last Hope_ faded slightly on the port side.

He peered over the strut and saw two humanoids, one male and female, both carrying boxes to and from the ruins to their ship. The male laughed and the female's face took a particular shade of red. Their feet clacked against the metal entrance ramp and disappeared into the ship, echoing slightly. When he couldn't hear their feet, he quietly slipped inside.

The ship itself was full of smoke from an overheated engine and it seems as if the ship's life support system were barely working, the air tasting very stale. The cooling systems seem to be malfunctioning, working and stopping at random intervals. The ship had an overall rusty aroma, almost as if it was just one big scrap heat used way past its time. It had dim narrow corridors with its low hanging pipes dangling everywhere, making the ship almost claustrophobic.

He made his way towards the cargo hold exit, careful not to step on a rusty patch as he hugged the wall. He smacked his head into a swinging pipe that fell right in front of him. He grunted in pain as the two humanoids stopped and turned around; dropping the boxes as grabbed their guns and ran towards the noise. He frantically looked for a hiding spot and wedged himself against the pipes on the wall, barely hiding as he waited for them to go back. The pipe burned as it compressed against his chest.

The male tilted his head to the right and muttered something he was unable to understand. She nodded as he headed out the exit and disappeared into the smoky corridor. The remaining one headed the same way but turned down an opposite corridor, leaving him alone in the cargo bay. He pulled himself out of his small hiding spot, careful of the heated metal. He realized he needed to find the captain before things got out of hand.

He half closed his eyes and dipped into the Force. He could feel the two presences of the individuals he had already encountered and strangely the female had a third presence with her. He finally found another presence in what he assumed was the cockpit and slowly made his way there. It seemed as the corridors leading to the cockpit were colder than the others, he was able to see his breath.

After a few minutes of wandering, he came upon a shut bulkhead door, locked. He peered inside with his senses and sensed the person in question. He went to knock, but to his surprise, the door opened to reveal the female from earlier. Their eyes were stuck to each other, as hers widened in surprised. Before he could even start to formulate a thought, she pulled her blaster out of its holster and fired at him.

The amnesiac Jedi jumped out of the way, the shot ripping through the opposite wall. He turned to see the door shut and locked again. He heard footsteps rushing towards him and saw the man from earlier charging towards him, his blaster out and aiming to fire.

The Jedi instinctively used the Force and pushed him against the far bulkhead, his body soaring through the air before colliding with a rather sick thud. The attacker sank to the ground, the bulkhead stained with a green liquid.

The Jedi slowly walked up to him, his hand hovering over his lightsaber. The attacker laid unmoving his blaster on the floor. He picked up the blaster and put it on his belt before checking the attacker's pulse; it was faint and weak, but steady.

The attacker was a humanoid…but seemed to be more plant than man. He had short, military cut black hair. He was rather tall, almost two meters, but had more muscle than either of his companions. His green skin and eyes was the same as his undershirt. Chlorophyll seeped from the puncture on the back of his head and from the top of the head. He wore a light grey vest with a long-sleeve green undershirt. His pants were also grey, but had black oily splotches all over. His grey boots were scoffed at the end and small rips were starting to show. Around his waist was an assortment of tools that was used to fix the various parts of a ship.

He sighed and went to turn around to talk to the female, trying to figure a way to get the door open. To his surprise, he didn't have to; the female and the other presence he sensed were now in front of him, holding their blasters to his face. He forced a smile as he raised his hands in a surrendering pose.

The leader, or who he assumed was the leader, was only as tall as his shoulder, her white and pink striped head tentacles replacing human hair. They were curled around her shoulders, just like human hair would. Her skin was a pale red and covered in small, thin white scars, but most of her skin was covered up by a loose fitting, all purpose red space suit, which surprisingly matched her skin color. Most of the pockets on the suit seemed to be occupied, holding a random assortment of objects. Around her slim waist, was a black gun holster that hung off her thigh. Her boots seemed to be made of rough rancor hide, and had seen better days.

The other person with her was the same as the unconscious male plant person. She was as tall as he was. Her green skin and eyes were the same color of a forest's trees and grass. She was thin except around the stomach. The second presence that he felt was coming from there, she had to be pregnant. She was wearing a flowing sky blue dress which was just cut above the cleavage. She wasn't wearing any shoes…which he found strange. She wore a small round silver crystal necklace. Her long, light brown hair went down her back in an intricate braid. She also wore many bracelets with them ranging from basic letters to intricate symbols.

He could feel the anxiety in the air and saw a look of fear in the plant female. "It's alright, he's just unconsciousness." He said, slowly moving away from the downed male. She moved towards him without taking her eyes off him. She reached down and gently touched his throat; she felt his pulse.

He heard mutterings and saw the leader was whispering into a comlink. She sighed and closed the device before looking at them. "Tenria is waiting for us on Hoth. She'll get everything ready and will patch him up as soon as we get there."

He bent down to pick up the unconscious male, careful not to jar his head too much. The plant female helped him, taking half of his weight. They painstakingly made their way to the small medical room on board the ship and gently sat him down on the bed. The plant lady pushed the Jedi away from the prone body as she hooked it up to a few machines, gently holding his hand.

The other sighed and dragged the confused Jedi to the cockpit, not lowering her blaster once. She fiddled around with a machine briefly, before groaning in frustration and smacking the side. The machine came to life and she slowly pressed several buttons. She turned back to look at the Jedi. "Well while the nav computer is plotting a course to Hoth, why don't we get to know each other a little better hm?" She asked, motioning him to sit in the chair.

He sat down and faintly smiled. "Well…it doesn't seem as if I have a lot of options, now do I?"

"Sarcasm will only get you so far. Now, what are you doing on my ship?"

"Trying to find out where I am to be honest."

She tilted her head slightly. "You'd be on the forest moon of Endor."

"Hmm…" He racked his brain, trying to recall anything. "Never heard of it."

"That's not surprising; it only just became popular."

"Why's that?"

"The Rebellion beat the Empire here; where have you been?"

"I'm…not sure. Wait, the Empire? Rebellion?" He stood up. "What about the Republic? What happened? Did we beat the Confederacy?"

"Whoa there buddy…what in the worlds are you talking about? What Confederacy?" She paused before squinting. "You're not talking about the Clone Wars are you?"

"Yes! Did we win?"

"Um…I hate to break it to you, but the Republic is gone. The Empire took over more than twenty years ago."

He stared at her in shock, the little that he remembered disappearing. "But how…with the Jedi helping…"

"You don't understand; the Jedi were the cause of the Republic's fall."

"WHAT?! We protected the Republic! It's what the Order did."

She glared at him. "That's impossible."

"What is?"

"You… being a Jedi; they all died out years ago."

He grabbed his lightsaber and twirled it between his fingers, flipping the on switch as he aimed it towards her throat. She held the blaster squarely at his chest as they stared each other down. "Still think I'm bluffing?" He asked, the green energy beam close to her neck.

"Hey Aluora, why haven't we left this back water-" The plant lady asked, stopped as she walked into the standoff. She quickly pulled her blaster out and placed it against the Jedi's neck. "Drop the over powered flash light, real slow, and everyone will be ok." She commanded, priming the blaster to fire if he didn't.

He sighed and turned the lightsaber off, the green beam dissipating. He went to set the hilt on the floor but his pain exploded in his head. He dropped the cylinder and screamed, holding his hands to the side of his head; it felt as if he was trying to stop it from exploding. Snippets of information seemed to appear out of nowhere. He remembered an attack on a planet full of crystals, his platoon of clone troopers being wiped out. He was crushed with the loss, the knowledge that it was his fault that they all died. He saw a girl with long black hair screaming in pain, clutching the stub of her arm, the other half lying on the ground. She looked at him and screamed a name, _Sousuke_… He felt his body fall to the floor, but he couldn't stop the onslaught of visions.

The room he was forced into was littered with dead bodies; the smell of torched ozone and burnt skin permeated the room. A lone woman stood against the rather tall male, both wielding lightsabers; one the color of the ocean, the other as red as lava.

"You cannot beat me child." The male said in a deep enough voice to cause the hallucinating Jedi to cringe in fear.

"You'd be surprised at what I can do." The woman said, angling her lightsaber to defend against any frontal assault.

"I sense that you are hiding something." He narrowed his eyes. "You were trained by someone strong in the Force, I can feel it. Looks like Vader failed again, looks like I have to clean up his mess yet again."

"Over my dead body." She said lightsaber held parallel to her face.

"You know that's funny; I was thinking the same thing." He said as he lunged forward.

"NO!" He screamed, the vision disappearing. He laid there, curled into a ball.

"Hey, you ok?" The one called Aluora asked.

"Can't we just dump him back on the planet?" The plant lady asked, horrified. "He already attacked Grarin, who's to say he won't do it again?"

Aluora sighed. "We can't."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I don't abandon anyone Sarule, you know that."

"So what? Can't you make an exception for the crazy people with super powers?"

"No… Aluora does not go back on her word." She looked at him. "Are you ok?"

"Sousuke…" He whispered.

"I'm sorry?"

"My name…its Sousuke… General Sousuke Sagara."

"YOU BROUGHT AN IMPERIAL ON BOARD?!" Sarule yelled, aiming her gun once again at the incapacitated Sousuke.

"Calm the hell down Sarule, he's not Imperial…he's…he's from a different era."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sarule asked.

"I'll explain later; just help me get him into the other room." Aluora said, picking Sousuke up.

Sarule sighed as she put her blaster away and helped Aluora half carry; half drag him to one of the unused crew quarters. They laid him on the bed and disabled the panel to get outside before Sarule quickly left to check on Grarin. Aluora sighed and grimaced as she hooked the lightsaber on her belt.

"I'll just keep this so you won't be getting any ideas. I'll be back in a little bit with some food and water." She said before leaving the room, shutting the door behind her and locking it from the outside.

Sousuke didn't respond as he was already passed out, his mind overloaded from the visions he had endured. He slept peacefully and was unaware of the ship coughing to life as they blasted off towards the frozen tundra known as Hoth.


	2. Chapter 2

Sousuke slowly awoke, his head hammering with a migraine. He held a hand to his head. "Whoa..." He muttered before glancing around. He couldn't get a good look however, as something smashed into the ship and he tumbled to the floor. "Ok, this is just getting ridiculous." He grumbled, pulling himself up to his feet.

"Bout time you woke up." A male voice said. Sousuke looked up to see who he had learned was Grarin, sitting in an old fashion chair, staring at him with a blaster held firmly in his gripped, which was pointed directly at Sousuke's face. His head was wrapped with a white band-aid. He waved the blaster towards the door. "Come on; Aluora said she wanted to speak with you when you woke up."

"Not like I got much of a choice." Sousuke said as he got up.

"Nope; now come on." He insisted.

"Alright already, sheesh; guy has mental breakdown and doesn't get any time to recover." Sousuke mumbled.

"You know I can always push you out the airlock." Grarin said as he led Sousuke towards the cockpit.

"….So where is this Aluora?" Sousuke said, avoiding the hanging pipes.

"Thought so."

They were silent the rest of the way. Grarin led him down the length of the ship as they continuously bounced off the walls as the ship kept colliding with something. They finally ended the brief journey in front of a solid metal door. Grarin walked up to the pad on the side and typed in the open command as the door slid open, revealing Aluora trying to fly the ship through an asteroid field. Sarule was in the navigator's chair, staring at her panel, watching the shields disappear.

Sousuke stared out into space, watching the asteroids slowly destroy the space vessel. A very quiet voice whispered to him. _Use the Force, Sousuke_. He continued to stare at the asteroids, trying to place the voice. He recognized it, but couldn't recall from whom or what. _Trust me._ It whispered, seemingly burrowing itself deep into his mind. He walked up to Aluora, who didn't see him. "Let me pilot."

"Are you crazy? I'd never give the _Hope_ to a stranger." She said through gritted teeth as she steered clear of an overly large asteroid.

"You'd rather die than let me try?"

"If it means being at the helm of my ship when we die, then yes."

"Please…let me try." He pleaded.

She glared at him before sighing and getting up. He faintly smiled and sat down, only to feel her blaster pressed against his neck. "If I see you trying anything funny, I'll blow your head off faster than you could use your magic."

He glared at her. "Yeah, since I want us to fly through an asteroid."

"Whatever funny man."

He sighed and closed his eyes. _Let go_… The voice whispered again and he listened, ignoring the physical world. He took a few breaths and felt lighter, almost at peace with himself. He seemed to be able to feel the asteroids and predict their paths as he effortlessly. He could feel a sense of approval, almost as if he was being appraised. He swore someone patted his head. He gasped as he let the breath that he was holding out and opened his eyes.

They had made it through the asteroid field and the ship sluggishly made its way down to the planet.

He sighed and looked at Aluora. "And you wanted to kill us all." He paused as there were suddenly four Aluoras. "Whoa….when did you learn to multiply?" He asked quietly before sliding out of the chair, passed out.

Sarule looked at Aluora with a raised eyebrow. "Are you sure we can't toss him?"

Aluora looked at the unconscious Jedi. "No… he's way too interesting."

"Look Aluora, I know you haven't had it in awhile, but I don't think-"

"Not like that shrub!" She checked his pulse; it was steady. "It seems interesting things happen around this man; I'd like to see some of them." She said, picking him up. "Now come on, help me get him to the infirmary so Tenria can look at him." She said, dragging him again to the little med station on board.

[….]

"Take cover!" Sousuke yelled as mortars impacted the ground all around him. The once beautiful crystal city on Christophsis lay in ruin, any remnants of its beauty smashed. His squad of four clone troopers, led by a clone known as CC-1977, or Thorn, issued orders and the other three followed them behind some cover.

The B2 super battle droids, the successor of the B1s, came walking slowly towards them, their wrist mounted laser cannons continuously firing into the wall. The rather tall, metallic silver domed droids stared at them with their one red glowing photoreceptor, waiting for one to get a lucky shot.

Sousuke paused, trying to get air back into his lungs and give his shaking limbs a much needed rest. They had been ambushed, the droids attacking them as they were refueling and arming. The droids had wiped out most of his squad, catching them off guard. He did what he could to save as many as he could, crazily holding off the entire force for only four to get out of the command bunker before the B2's blew it up. Ever since, they've been on the run. Their ammo was dangerously low, only having enough clips to fully reload two blasters.

He looked at his men; they were all exhausted and running low on energy. They had little to no rations, only able to salvage a backpack from the wreckage. He could sense the despair and hopeless they felt but refused to say.

He looked at Thorn. "What's the difference between a Jedi Knight and a Jedi Master?"

Thorn confusedly looked at him. "I don't understand sir."

Sousuke sighed. "Never mind, it was a lame joke."

CC-1775, or Jokester as they called him, smiled. "Geez general, and I thought I was bad."

"At least I tried." Sousuke said, rolling his eyes.

"Hate to ruin your bonding time, but we do have a fight to win." Thorn said, peering over the corner. His head exploded as red beams of death continued to head their way. Everyone stared in horror as the headless corpse fell to the ground, the blaster still grasped in his hand.

"NO!" Sousuke screamed, his green blade a blur as he deflected the rest of the blasterfire back at the droids. There was too much and he had little energy; some got through. Unfortunately, they were stopped by the clones' bodies. In a matter of minutes, the only one who was left was Sousuke, his lightsaber a blur of death as he slowly whittled away at the endless droids. Finally, his strength gone, a blast hit him in the shoulder, sending his lightsaber spinning out of his hands. He briefly called upon the Force and sent a wave of energy at the droids, sending them flying.

He dropped to his knees, his body shaking from fatigue. He looked up as a wrist blaster was placed in front of his face. He saw the barrels turning red as the droid powered up his wrist for one more volley-

Sousuke awoke, plastered in cold sweat. He held his head as it pounded with a splitting headache, feeling as if it was going to explode. He heard a faint beep in sync with his pulse and looked towards the noise, seeing a heart monitor. "What the?" He started as he looked around the room, finally noticing he was in some sort of hospital. The room was completely white and was extremely bright. The room had to be close to freezing temperatures, his body shivering and he could see his breath.

He heard a hiss and looked up to see Aluora walking through the open door carrying two cups of caf. She faintly smiled as she handed him a cup, his lightsaber still clipped on her belt. "You ok?" She asked.

He nodded as he drank from the cup; the caf was warm and felt good as it coursed through his body. "Yeah… I think I may be narcoleptic." He muttered to himself. "How's the ship?"

"Shield generator is being repaired and the hull is being patched by Grarin; I'm surprised we can't hear his cursing from here." She said with a chuckle.

"What do you mean?"

"That ship was old when I got it and we've flown it through some…adventures, I'm surprised it's still in one piece."

"Ah…" He said as he drank some more. He looked her over and noticed she didn't have her blaster on her. "So… you trust me?"

"Not at all, just there's no way off the planet and if you try and leave Grarin and Sarule said they'd shoot you on sight." She shrugged. "And if even if you did manage to get past them, we're on Hoth… It's not like you would survive very long out there anyways." She said, motioning at his outfit.

He faintly smiled. "Don't worry; in my case, I'm not sure I could do much anyways." He leaned forward, the world spinning. "So back on the ship, you were saying that the Republic was taken over by the Jedi?"

She sighed. "Well, that's the million credit question isn't it? Not a whole lotta people know what happened; all we know is that a group of Jedi stormed the Chancellor's office and tried to take over. Long story short, the Republic died that day and became the Empire."

He was silent, motioning her to continue.

"The Jedi Order was destroyed that day too. That was twenty years ago. That planet that we were on, Endor was the site of the last battle between the Rebellion and the Empire; the Emperor was killed there." She leaned forward. "And there's rumors going around saying that one of the main leaders of the Rebellion is a Jedi, or some nutcase with a laser sword."

He sat back, his mind blank and his mouth open. The very core of what made the Republic a beacon of light… was gone, destroyed by the very man sworn to save it. The irony wasn't lost on him either, letting out a hollow chuckle. "That's…that's something."

Her response was drowned out as the base klaxons began to wail, the red light giving the room eerie shadows.

"What the hell is going on?" He yelled above the alarm.

"Base is under attack." She said simply before she sprung up and grabbed his arm before running towards the door. As they turned the corner and headed further into the base, the hair on Sousuke's neck rose up and he paused for a second, letting Aluora guide him as he closed his eyes and drifted his conscious into the Force.

"How many people are in here?" He asked, sensing at least a four squads head their way.

"With you five; why?"

"Then we're gonna have some company." He said, pulling his arm out of her grasp and crouching getting ready to launch himself at the first clone trooper he saw.

The first clone trooper turned the corner, but was wearing a new set of armor… and a new blaster. Before Sousuke could evaluate it, a shot came from behind him and the trooper's head exploded. He was grabbed by the collar and dragged along till she paused at a small door. She pushed him inside and shut it behind her as the footsteps of the other troopers followed them. She grimaced as she shot the door control. "That's always a pain in the ass to fix." She muttered.

The room was what looked like a small galley, having several tables and benches lined up in rows. Before he could even ask what was going on, his lightsaber was flung into his hands. He looked quizzically at her. "I thought you didn't trust me?"

"Still don't but I at least wanna try and get out of here alive." She paused as she scurried around the room, flipping the tables. "I hope you know how to use that overpowered flash light." She struggled to lift a table and glared at him. "Come on; use some of your magic to help me before they blow the door in."

"It's been a while, but I remember the basics." He said, flipping it on and twirled it a few times, getting a rhythm. He looked up to hear something smacking into the door and he bent down slightly, rocking on the balls of his heels. Aluora was hiding behind the table, blaster in hand as she aimed at the door.

There was a very faint beeping that sent chills down his spine as he quickly turned around and dove behind the tables. Mere milliseconds later, the door exploded, sending scrap metal and flaming, jagged remains of the door everywhere.

The sounds of several dozen feet shuffling towards them echoed in the now quiet hallway. Sousuke's ears rang as the loud explosion seemed to make him temporarily deaf. He paused as he saw Aluora blindly fire her blaster, the slight recoil making her hand bounce off the remains of the table cover. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sinking into the Force.

He jumped over the barrier as the troopers piled in, their ears protected by their helmets. They saw him first and opened fire as he deflected the blast. Something nagged him into twisting the lightsaber a little lower at the next volley and he was rewarded with a very faint grunt of pain before he felt the life vanish from the trooper.  
His lightsaber was a blur of green as he blocked the shots while Aluora covered him, taking down her fair share of troopers. Within moments of their teamwork, the trooper's superior numbers were reduced to three. The three stopped firing and quickly left the room. Aluora and Sousuke didn't give chase, better to wait and see then follow blindly. Several seconds later, three small, black, spherical objects rolled into the room.

Sousuke sensed Aluora's fear overwhelm her as he assumed it was the three blinking objects on the floor. He quickly used the Force and flung them back at their owners and dived over the barricade on top of her as another even louder explosion shook the base. A wall of heat and smoke blew into the room, carry some debris. He could feel small pricks of pain as it burrowed into his clothes.

After several tense moments and no blasterfire followed, he got off her and helped her up. She brushed herself off and gingerly hopped over the table frame; all of what was left after the grenade went off. She peered around the corner and he saw her face slightly get lighter. "Poor stormies never had a chance." She whispered.

"Stormies?"

"Stormtroopers or clone troopers as you know them; the cannon fodder of the Empire." She said.

He grunted as he staggered over to the door. "Come on; let's get to the command center before more show up."

She paused for a moment. "Keep the damn flash light, we may need it." She said, draping an arm over shoulders and helped him make his way towards the command center.

When they finally got there, Sarule and a girl that he didn't know were frantically typing at the keyboards. The girl had short black hair and vibrant green eyes, her eyes shining almost as bright as his lightsaber. She was of average height and build, wearing a dark green, long sleeved shirt with white vest and dull white pants with gray boots.

Grarin watched them as she led Sousuke over to a corner and sat him down before heading to the command chair, ordering for statuses. Sousuke leaned against the wall, eyes closed. He could feel the turmoil in the Force, every action causing people to disappear. He felt a strong presence in the sky; he was rather intrigued. I wonder if that was who she was telling me about. He tried to stretch his awareness farther, but he couldn't focus hard enough. He sighed and slowly opened an eye to stare at the holoprojector in the middle of the room.

It showed several large triangle shaped destroyers, almost like the _Venator_-class ships that he served on. The other large ships were what he could only describe as what he thought coral reefs looked liked, but cleaned. He faintly made out the names of the ship, the _Venators_ were called _Imperial Star Destroyers_ and the coral ships were _Mon Calamari Star Cruisers_. They were surrounded by ships called _Victory_-class destroyers and _Nebulon B-Frigates_. The _Cruisers_ were easily decimating the _Victory_ destroyers, their green energy blasts ripping through the shields. The _Star Destroyers_ on the other hand, seemed to decimate two _Cruisers_ before the remaining _Cruisers_ teamed up and destroyed the _Star Destroyer_.

The space in-between the large ships were littered with smaller fighters, all entangled in a dog fight. X shaped fighters; properly named X-Wings fought C winged blue fighters called TIE Interceptors. The X-Wings seemed to be more maneuverable and had stronger firepower, but TIEs were faster. Slowly but surely it seemed as if the Empire ships were going to win. The base shook with every planet-side crash.

Suddenly, it got eerily clam and the Imperial ships and fighters were backing away, almost retreating. The Rebels, worried, regrouped themselves. The Empire then vanished, disappearing into the blackness as the hyperspaced away. Everyone in the room was silent, shocked at what they had saw.

"Did… did the Empire just retreat when it was winning?" Sarule whispered, her face in shocked.

They continued to watch the feed as at least half a dozen balloon shaped ships headed towards the surface, along with the remaining X-Wings in space. They quickly landed close to the base and the ballooned ships opened, revealing several platoons of soldiers.

Aluora looked at Sousuke and he looked back. "I knew I should've left you back on Endor."


End file.
